Unexpected Sisters
by LastCorsair
Summary: Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long are coworkers at the Vale Bureau of Investigation. Then they find out they share a deeper connection.
1. Old Wounds

Ruby Rose was muttering under her breath as she entered the lobby of the Patch branch of the Vale Bureau of Investigation, the heels of her shoes clicking on the stark white tiles. She loved her job and really, really hated being late to work. It almost felt like she was letting the whole kingdom down or something. Absentmindedly she sidestepped the normal security checkpoints and headed for the one for VBI agents and other people who worked there, only to have one of the security guards hold up a hand and keep her from going through. "What's going on? I'm already late for work," she said, fighting to keep her hands by her side.

The guard gestured at the screen on the security checkpoint. "It says here, your access has been suspended, Agent Rose. You're to wait here for Deputy Director Goodwitch."

"Great." As if her day didn't already suck. They didn't suspend you for being late to work, right? She had a legitimate reason for it, with a police report and everything. And she couldn't remember anything else she'd done that would warrant the attention of the deputy director. With a sigh, Ruby smiled at the security guard. "Any chance I can get a cup of coffee while we wait for Goodwitch?"

No such luck. At least she was only waiting a few minutes before Deputy Director Goodwitch came stalking out the elevator, the scowl that was permanently etched on her face more pronounced than usual. No wonder her nickname was 'Goodbitch,' not that anyone would ever use it where there was even a hint of a chance she'd hear it. Especially not Ruby.

Ruby stood up from where she'd been leaning against the wall waiting, fixing her jacket nervously. "Deputy Director, I'm really really sorry for being late. I can explain. Somebody-"

"Agent Rose." Ruby fought to keep from cringing at the disapproval in Goodwitch's tone. "While being late for work is of concern, you did follow procedure and call in, and your reason at least sounds legitimate. Just make sure we get a copy of the police report. You have been placed on temporary suspension while we address a different matter entirely. Follow me." Goodwitch led her through security and into the elevator, hitting the button for the top floor. When someone tried to slip inside, the deputy director just glared at them.

Ruby jumped when the elevator doors opened again. She'd gotten lost in thought, going over her recent actions for anything at all that should have brought her to Goodwitch's attention. Nope, nothing came to mind. Maybe something old, a slip on a closed case that made it not-so-closed? Oh man, this was going to suck.

Goodwitch led her straight to the director's office, brushing right past the director's secretary. Inside, Ruby's supervisor, Yang, sat in front of the director's desk, arms crossed and scowling. Ruby's heart sank even further. Whatever it was she'd done, she had fucked up megabad.

"Agent Rose," Director Ozpin sat behind his desk, fingers tented on the edge of his desk. "How kind of you to join us at last. We've been waiting for you."

She stopped a few steps behind the chairs in front of Ozpin's desk, trying not to fidget or look nervous. "Sorry, sir. Someone slashed my tires, and I had to wait for the police. There's been a couple of them around my apartment complex."

"Well, hopefully, they catch the person responsible. Please, have a seat, Agent Rose. I'm sure you're both aware we've been running an internal security audit in the wake of… some recent lapses within the bureau." Ozpin leaned forward his eyes intent. "During the course of this audit, we came across something involving the two of you. Did you think we wouldn't find out?"

"Find out what?" Yang said, shooting Ruby an annoyed look. "I mean, I am Rose's supervisor, but she's been a good agent. Even does her paperwork without too much of a fuss, which is more than I can say for some of the other agents under me."

"This." Ozpin slid a piece of paper in front of them. Ruby picked it up, scanning the top of the page in confusion. "It's a birth certificate. Looks like it's Xiao Long's."

"Keep reading." the director sat back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap.

Her eyes slid further down the page. Date of birth, huh, Yang was only about two years older than Ruby. Mother, Raven Branwen, father… "Wait, your dad's name is Taiyang Xiao Long?"

"Yeah, why… oh. Your dad's name is the same as mine. So does that make us… sisters?" Yang looked up from the paper in her hand to meet Ruby's silver eyes. "But dad… dad never talked about any other kids."

Goodwitch coughed gently from behind them. "I assume you're familiar enough with pregnancy to remember that there's something of a delay between conception and a woman discovering she's pregnant, much less giving birth, Agent Xiao Long?"

"Heh, yeah," Yang said, scratching the back of her head with her prosthetic arm.

Now Director Ozpin leaned forward, leaning his arms on the edge his desk. "I take it from your reaction that you were unaware of this possible connection?"

"Not a clue. Sir," Ruby added, looking at Ozpin sheepishly. "I mean, I knew my dad's name, but mom never talked about him, just that she'd explain about him 'someday.' Guess someday came sooner than she expected. Um, sir, can I… can I take some personal time, talk to my mom about this?"

"Same," Yang said, giving her newfound sibling a grin. "I mean, if we are sisters, we need a bit of time to sort this out."

Ozpin nodded. "Given that one of you is the other's supervisor, I don't have much choice but to place both of you on suspension while we look into this. Only temporarily and purely as a formality, of course."

The pair rode the elevator in stunned silence until Yang spoke. "So, uh, Rose, how do you want to play this? I'm kind of on unsteady ground here."

"Well, first thing is, if we really are sisters, I suppose you ought to get used to calling me Ruby, Yang," Ruby said, letting out an explosive sigh. "I mean, even though our last names are different, sisters should be on a first-name basis, right? And I guess divide and conquer is the way to go. You send me a picture of your dad, I'll send you a picture of my mom, and we'll see what they have to say about this."

Yang nodded. "Sounds good, uh, Ruby." They shared a laugh at how awkward Yang sounded calling Ruby by her name. "Probably should do a DNA test or something, just to make sure we really are sisters, too. I mean, dad's name is kind of a big clue, but just in case."

"Yeah." The doors opened and the two of them started to head off in opposite directions. "Hey, sis?" Ruby called before Yang was more than ten feet away.

Yang turned, glancing at her new sister over her shoulder. "Yeah, Ruby?"

"Nothing." Ruby smiled. "I just, I just always wanted to say that, you know? I always hated being an only child."

Yang spun on her heel, grinning and making finger-guns at Ruby. "I know what you mean, sis, I know what you mean."

* * *

Yang hesitated, then brought her finger down on the doorbell before she chickened out. No matter how you sliced it, this was going to be an awkward conversation. A voice called from inside the house, "I'll be there in just a minute." Her palms started sweating as she heard the distinctive rhythm of her dad, making his way to the door on his cane. Finally, he opened the door, a smile spreading across his face. "Yang, I didn't expect to see you today. Shouldn't you be at work, big bad VBI agent stopping the bad guys?"

"Yeah, well, I'm on suspension and that's sort of what I need to talk to you about. Let's sit down." Once they were in the living room, Tai sat down in his battered recliner with a grimace. The leg that had forced him out of fieldwork must really be bothering him today. "Dad, do you remember a woman named Summer Rose?"

Tai's face froze. "Summer Rose… that's a name I haven't heard in a long time." He reached up and ran a hand down his face. "We, we were together for a while, when you were about just about a year old. She, she got the wrong idea, thought I was looking for a substitute mother for you after Raven left. How in the world did you ever come across her name?"

"Well, that's kind of a funny story. One of the agents I work with is Summer's daughter." Yang stopped and took a deep breath. "Dad… this other agent, her birth certificate says you're her father."

"Summer… Summer had a daughter, our daughter, and never told me? I, I don't know what to say." He shook his head. "Do you have a picture of her? Can I, can I meet her? I don't even know her name."

"It's Ruby, Ruby Rose. And, well, she's off talking to Summer about you. See, we kinda got in a little trouble at work..." Yang laid out the scene from the director's office that morning, finishing with, "So Ruby's off to talk to Summer, and I'm here talking with you." Her eyes went wide. "Oh my god, I forgot to call Weiss, I need to tell her this."

"Relax." There was a gentle twinkle in Taiyang's eyes. "If anyone's got the right to panic right now, it's you and me. And Ruby and Summer too, I suppose," he added with a laugh. "We'll get through this. Now, tell me about this new sister of yours."

Yang gave a weak smile. "Ruby's a bit of a maverick. Goes with her gut more than I'd really like, but her gut's usually right. Really good at picking out the one thing that just doesn't fit about a situation. Like this one time, she was at the bank, not a VBI thing, just doing normal banking stuff. Guy comes in with a gun, grabs a hostage and tries robbing the bank. Ruby figured out the hostage was really the robber's accomplice and threatens to shoot the hostage. The director wasn't sure if he should give her a commendation or a suspension. And then there was this other time..."

* * *

Something caught Summer Rose's eye outside the window of her office, drawing her attention. Oh, it was her daughter Ruby. She frowned. Shouldn't Ruby be at work? And instead of coming in to see her, Ruby was leaned up against her car, smoking. As Summer watched, Ruby ground finished one cigarette, grinding the butt under her heel, then lit another.

She sighed. Whatever brought her daughter to visit today, it had to be bad. Ruby'd been trying to quit for months now, with mixed success. Shaking her head, Summer turned back to the mountain of paperwork she was gallantly trying to turn into a molehill. Whatever was bothering Ruby, she'd come inside to talk to Summer soon enough.

Eventually ,the door opened, and Ruby slumped down in one of the chairs in front of her mother's desk, reeking of cigarette smoke. Summer tried not to reach for the can of air fresher by her desk. "Hey, mom," Ruby said weakly.

"Ruby." Summer forced a smile on her face, setting her pen down on the desk. "It's nice to see you. What's up?"

"Mom, I, I found my half-sister," Ruby stammered, then cringed. Her mother had never talked about her father, all Ruby had was his name, and that only because she'd needed her birth certificate to join the VBI. She had no idea how her mother was going to react.

" _Half-sister?"_ Summer's voice was shocked. "How-?" She shook her head. "So you found Yang. I suppose I always knew you'd go looking for your father, but you found her instead."

"More like the VBI found her for me. They've been running this crazy internal audit, and they realized me and my supervisor had the same dad. So we're both on suspension while they decide what to." Ruby rubbed her eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me about her, mom?"

"I… Ruby, you have to realize, that I really cared about Tai and Yang, while we were together. Yang was a wonderful little girl, and I thought the three of us could be happy together. But after I found out who her mother was, I couldn't stay." Summer walked around the desk, sitting on the edge next to Ruby. "Ruby, we've never talked about the life I had, before you. The truth is, I was a mercenary, a gun for hire, and sometimes I worked with Yang's mother, Raven. I did it for the excitement and the money, but Raven, she did it for other reasons. Raven liked to kill. She had a vicious streak a mile wide. Honestly, I wonder how she got together with someone like Taiyang."

Ruby blinked. "You were a freaking _merc?_ Please tell me you don't have any outstanding warrants or anything."

Summer laughed. "Not as far as I know. So, are you and Yang friends? You said she's your supervisor. She's not one of those bosses from hell or anything, is she?"

"Nope. We work well together. She always has a smile on her face and she always hears me out when I have one of my crazy ideas. Shoots them full of holes sometimes, but it works out in the end." Ruby's phone rang, and she glanced at it. "I, uh, I gotta take this." Before Summer could say a word, Ruby was out the door. Curious, Summer walked to the window, watching her daughter lean up against the back of her car, phone already to her ear. _Wonder what that's about. Is it Yang?_

Ruby took a deep breath before answering the phone. "Hey, Blake, how's it going?"

"Just felt like calling you. Is something wrong? You sound… nervous," Blake answered, and Ruby found herself cursing her girlfriend's perceptiveness yet again.

"Not wrong, exactly, just… I found out I have a half-sister today. And just to prove that the gods have a sense of humor, she's my supervisor from work," Ruby said as she fished around in her pockets.

"The one you asked out?"

"Yep," Ruby answered, wedging her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she lit a cigarette.

"That had to be… awkward."

Ruby laughed. "It, uh, it hasn't come up. I'm hoping she's as eager to forget it as I am, right now."

"Let's hope. And how many cigarettes have you had since then?"

Now Ruby froze. "Uh, most of a pack," she muttered, looking at the four cigarettes sitting forlornly in what had been a full pack that morning. "It has, officially, been a hell of a day." Hopefully, Blake wouldn't be too mad.

"Ruby, given what happened to your car, and finding out about your sister, I am hereby issuing an amnesty for any and all cigarettes smoked today." Ruby let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "But," Blake continued, "I expect you to be very observant of our bargain for the next few days."

"I'll try." A month after they started dating, Blake had put her foot down about Ruby's smoking. She hadn't expected Ruby to quit cold turkey, but she was making Ruby cut down. "I meant to pick up some more gum, but the car and stuff."

"I know. So, when do I get to meet this sister of yours?" Blake asked with a laugh.

"Blake, I will remind you that, at your request, we still haven't told anyone about us. Not your parents, not my mother. Or, I suppose, my dad now." Ruby tried to keep her tone light but knew she failed. Blake wasn't ready to come out, not yet, and it drove Ruby crazy. She wanted to shout from the rooftops how she felt about Blake, not whisper it in the dark.

"Maybe it's time." Ruby jumped, knocking the cherry off her cigarette and brushing it off her clothes as Blake went on. "I just… I'm so used to keeping things to myself. But, well," Blake sighed, "Ruby, one of the things I love about you is how okay with myself you make me feel. And, well, I know you hate hiding how you feel about me. So tell your mom when you see her, and we'll handle my parents somehow."

"Y-you love me?" Ruby asked, putting away the pack she'd started to pull out.

"Yes, Ruby, I love you. Dork," Blake added with a laugh, making Ruby smile.

"Love you too, Blake. And telling my mom's no problem, I'm at her office now."

"She's not listening, is she?"

"No, I'm outside. She can see me, though," Ruby said, waving at Summer where she stood watching through the window

"Go tell her, then. And I love you," Blake said, the words sounding more relaxed now.

Ruby knew she was grinning like an idiot as she walked through the door into her mother's office. "You had me worried for a moment the way you ran out of here, but I guess it's good news," Summer said, setting a cup of coffee in front of Ruby.

"My girlfriend, saying she loved me," was Ruby's reply as she sipped the coffee.

"Mm. Didn't know you were seeing anyone," Summer answered, trying to keep her surprise off her face.

"Eh, she wanted to keep things quiet. But she's ready to make some noise. I told her about Yang, and she wants to meet her."

* * *

Yang was fighting to contain her excitement as she walked through the front door of one of the newest five-star restaurants in Vale. Her mood vanished like smoke when she saw the man yelling at the hostess standing behind the podium. "I don't care what you've been told, I want her out here immediately!" he shouted.

"Sir," the rabbit-eared girl said, "First of all, you're making a scene. Please don't yell. And second, I have strict instructions about you. You are not allowed on the property and Mrs. Schnee does not want to speak with you. If you want to talk to her, you are to contact her attorney."

"You listen to me-" he started again, but Yang grabbed his arm before he could really get going. "Mister Schnee, I think you need to go."

"Let go of me before I sue the VBI for harassment," he snarled, trying to shake her grip.

"Go right ahead and try. I think it'll play really good in court, how you're here in violation of a restraining order, harassing the staff and causing a disturbance. And then there's me, politely asking you to leave." Yang's voice dropped low as she stared Jacques Schnee in the eyes. "Now get lost, before I arrest you," she added, giving him a shove toward the door.

After Jacques had left, Yang turned to the hostess again, a fresh grin on her face as she remembered why she was here. "Need to talk to Weiss. She busy?"

"Mrs. Weiss is very busy, unfortunately. If you like, I can tell her you were here, miss…?"

"Aha, thought you were new. I'm Weiss's wife, Yang Xiao Long. We kept our names, got it? Just ask one of the old hands. Or, hey, Sun, go let Weiss know I'm here, and I need to talk to her?" The blonde man gave a thumbs-up and hustled back toward the office.

The rabbit-eared girl shrunk down. "I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"It's fine." Weiss had appeared behind Velvet and laid a calming hand on her shoulder. "You're relatively new and Yang doesn't come to the restaurant that often. We prefer to keep our respective professional lives separate. And I suppose I have you to thank for the absence of my father, Yang?"

"Just the right word in his ear. Listen, we need to speak in private. Let's go to your office."

* * *

"Alright, Yang? What is it?" Weiss asked as they sat down in her office. "Is this going to be quick? The lunch rush is in less than an hour."

Yang exhaled heavily. "Found out I've got a half-sister this morning. Dad hooked up with another woman for a bit after my mother skedaddled."

"I see." Weiss nodded thoughtfully. "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Good thing, I think. She's one of the agents that I supervise, one of the better ones, in fact. I, uh, I already talked to dad, and he remembers her mother but didn't know she was pregnant," Yang replied, leaning back in her chair.

Weiss smiled, one of her rare genuine smiles that reached her eyes. "That's a good sign, although I'm guessing that being the sneaky suspicious VBI agent that you are, I'm assuming you're probably going to have a DNA test, just to be sure?"

"Yep. Ruby suggested it, even."

Weiss' face froze. "Ruby? As in Ruby Rose, the agent that asked you out?"

Yang groaned. Of course, Weiss would remember something like that. "Yeah, she asked me, and I cut her off, cold." She leaned forward, taking Weiss' hand in hers. "Weiss, I love you, okay? You don't need to worry about that. I'm not leaving any time soon. Proof's right here," Yang finished, tapping her right arm.

Weiss flinched at the reminder of how Yang had lost her arm. "I know, Yang. But it's hard, sometimes." She cleared her throat. "So, when do I get to meet this sister of yours, that I have absolutely no reason to be jealous of, whatsoever?"

"Soon as we can get everyone together in one place, probably. We're both on suspension while the VBI decides if we knew we were sisters or not." Yang's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out. "Ah, speak of the devil."

 _Mom remembers your dad and wants to meet both of you. Where & when?_

 _I'm pretty sure I can wrangle the where, when is variable. Dad wants to meet you two as well_

 _Awkward, party of four?_

 _Five. Probably should introduce you to my wife_

 _Six, my girlfriend is gonna want to come too, and we had plans for tonight anyway_

Yang looked up at Weiss, who was giving her a suspicious look. "So, babe, I don't suppose we could get one of the private rooms for tonight? Lots of introductions to be made."

Weiss just snorted.


	2. Awkward, Party of Six

Blake's hands were shaking as she killed the engine to her car. Could she really do this? Was she really ready to meet not only Ruby's mother (who hadn't known she existed that morning), but Ruby's possible sister, father, and sister-in-law? _Ruby, if I didn't love you, I would, I would…_ Probably go home and curl up on the couch with a good cup of tea and her phone turned off, Blake admitted to herself.

Then the reality of what had just passed through her mind hit Blake. Even if she'd said it out loud to Ruby that morning, admitting that she _loved_ Ruby was staggering. Bake wasn't really attached to a lot of people, outside of her parents and a few others she'd known almost her entire life. And here was this random intruder in her life, who wore her heart on her sleeve, that had wandered in by accident and little by little, eased her way Blake's heart until Blake couldn't imagine her day without Ruby in it.

Her phone buzzed, making Blake jump and setting her heart racing. It was a text from an unknown number: _Running late, dad's freaking out. He's wondering if he's wearing the right tie and he's not even wearing one!_

 _Mom too_ came from Ruby. _She's practically hyperventilating, not that I blame her_ That meant that the first number was probably Yang, Ruby's sister.

Another unknown number: _Who are you and how did you get this number?_ Blake giggled a little; she hadn't known a text message could sound annoyed like that.

Yang: _Weiss, meet Ruby. I put the four of us on a group text_ :D

Ruby: _Oh, is that why you wanted Blake's number? Are you here, Blake?_

With a sigh, Blake answered. _I'm here. Please don't give my number out to anyone else, Ruby. And I'm almost at the restaurant too. I just parked in the parking garage up the street_

 _Well, at least one of you is on time,_ Weiss sent. _I will see you soon, then_

Blake frowned. Dammit, she'd just told them she'd be right there, hadn't she? No turning back now. With a sigh, the cat-eared woman headed for the elevator.

When Blake reached the address she'd been given, she stood on the sidewalk in front of what she would have thought just another brownstone, her hands clenched into fists. One thing Ruby had neglected to pass along was the restaurant's _name._ Instead of glowing neon, a rather subtle plaque proclaimed it to be Schnee's, and the sight of it made Blake angry. The things Jacques Schnee had done in the name of just a little more profit-! Then a smaller plaque underneath caught Blake's eye. _Schnee's is not affiliated with or a subsidiary of the Schnee Bank._ Blake snorted. So that was the story. Schnee's was probably owned by someone who shared a name with Jacques Schnee, probably not related to him at all. And wasn't it just like Jacques Schnee to make sure everyone knew this restaurant had nothing to to do with his empire? With a small smile, Blake pressed down on the brass door handle and opened the heavy oak door.

Inside, Blake couldn't help but stop raise an eyebrow at the decor. It was all very tastefully done, soft lighting and earth tones, very traditional but with signs of modern sensibilities as well. Very, very nice. A blue-haired man behind the podium cleared his throat and spoke to her quietly. "Can I help you, miss?"

Blake blinked. She'd gotten lost in admiring the décor. "I'm meeting someone, the Rose-Xiao Long party?"

A broad smile spread across his face. "Absolutely. Right this way, please." He gestured and she started to follow him, only to have one of the people waiting to seated interrupt. "Now wait a minute, we've been waiting for ten minutes to be seated, and she just waltzes in here and gets shown straight to table? What kind of bullshit is that?"

"Sir, the party she's with has reserved a private dining room for tonight. Now, please let me get her seated and then I'll check on your table."

Blake shortly found herself seated in a private dining room at probably the most expensive table she'd ever seen, much less eaten off of. Hell, one of the chairs probably cost more than the rent on her apartment for a couple of months! After one of the waiters brought her a pot of green tea and disappeared, Blake checked her phone with a grimace. No new messages, and no way of knowing if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She poured herself a cup of tea and inhaled deeply, mentally preparing herself for a wait. Yang and Ruby were hopefully on their way with their respective parents in tow, which left…

"I assume you're 'Blake?' Since you don't look like the picture of Ruby Yang showed me, and I don't believe you look old enough to be Ruby's mother."

Standing in the doorway was a white-haired woman wearing a dress that started out a midnight blue near her shoulders, fading to ice blue by the time it reached the hem just above her knees. Blake was startled to realize the woman was about her age. "R-Right," she stammered. "And you are?"

"Weiss, Yang's wife," the other woman answered, sitting down across from Blake. Without a word, a waiter set a cup of coffee at Weiss's elbow, vanishing again without a trace. "I'm sorry for not being here to meet you, but something came up."

"No problem," Blake answered, her feline ears giving a flick. "I just got here myself." _Let's try and break the ice._ "I don't think I've ever been in anyplace this nice. Wonder how Yang managed it."

The white-haired woman's left eyebrow rose, highlighting the scar over her left eye. "It helps that she's married to the owner."

An epiphany flashed in Blake's mind and her hands shook as she slammed them down on the table, coming halfway to her feet. "You're Weiss _Schnee,"_ she said, the last word coming out in a snarl.

Weiss winced. "What does that have to do with-oh, I see," she said, her eyes flickering toward the top of Blake's head. "You're familiar with my father's opinions about Faunus, and you're assuming I share them. I don't." A corner of Weiss's mouth pulled up in a smile. "My father and I speak strictly through lawyers and restraining orders now. Much less stressful and we save on assault charges that way. Did you see the plaque out front, the one that says we're not associated with Schnee bank?" Blake nodded carefully, still not sure she trusted Weiss. "The second thing I did after getting my inheritance from my mother's death was to sink a sizable part of it into opening this place. My father's immediate response was to try and sue me out of business even before I opened my doors. The plaque was a compromise after that first lawsuit, not that he's honored his part of things. Since then, there's been a steady stream of harassment, legal and otherwise." Weiss smiled more broadly now, lifting her coffee in both hands and taking a sip. "Mind you, sometimes I think part of my success is due to people dining here to thumb their noses at my father."

"Hmm." Blake sank back down into her chair, sipping her tea carefully. "What was the first thing?"

"Say again?"

"You said the second thing you did after getting your inheritance was sink a bunch of it into this." One of Blake's arms went wide, taking in the room and, by extension the whole restaurant. "What was the first?"

"I proposed to Yang, right in the middle of my father's lawyers' office." A viciously satisfied smile spread across Weiss's face. "For a moment, I thought my father was going to drop dead right there. I think it would have been worth every Lien my mother left me if he had." The pair shared a chuckle as their phones both buzzed.

Ruby: _En route with mom ETA 10-15 minutes_

Blake: _No rush, Weiss and I are getting along like a house on fire_

Ruby: _Flames, screams, people running in panic? :P_

Ruby's answer brought a chuckle from Weiss. "You know, that particular phrase never quite made sense to me. I think Ruby and I will get along just fine. How did the two of you meet?" Weiss said.

"I'll wait until everyone's here to tell it." Another message, this time from Yang. _Dad and I are on our way, ugly tie and all_

Twenty minutes later, a blonde man peered nervously into the room. "Do, do I have the right place? Oh, there you are, Weiss. Who's this? No need to get up, I'm Taiyang," he finished, clapping a hand on Blake's shoulder hard enough to make her knees give a little.

"I, uh, I'm Blake, Ruby's g-girlfriend," the raven-haired woman stammered, bringing an unexpected look of sympathy from Weiss. Dammit, why was its so hard, saying it out loud? Then she blinked. Taiyang was wearing probably the most hideous tie she'd ever seen, covered in starfish in tuxedoes dancing with other starfish in dresses. A snort of laughter escaped her lips, and Blake immediately felt herself relax. He noticed where she was looking and smiled at Yang, who was taking a seat next to Weiss. "See, I told you the tie was a good idea," he said.

Yang just rolled her eyes at him and then smiled at Blake. "Hey, Blake, I'm Yang. Nice to meet you." Blake just nodded in answer and started fidgeting with her napkin. "What's wrong?" Yang asked.

"Just a little nervous, that's all," Blake said.

"Okay, nervous I can solve." Yang's hand dipped into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a big red clown nose on a string. "Yang, please no," Weiss said, but her wife ignored her and put the nose on, pulling the string around her head and tying it in place. "See? Now I'm the one that looks ridiculous," Yang said, tapping the nose so it made a feeble _honk_. Blake couldn't help but laugh.

Muffled voices outside the door drew their attention, and then the door opened. Summer Rose stumbled in, shooting an annoyed look over her shoulder at Ruby right behind her. Ruby's eyes went first to Blake, who smiled at her, but Summer only had eyes for Taiyang.

Taiyang stood up, straightening his tie. He opened his mouth, going over the first worst words of what he'd decided he wanted to say to Ruby and Summer, but a nervous "Hi," is all he could get out.

"Hi yourself," Summer replied, and there was a pregnant pause as the two of them stood there, staring at each other.

"You look good," Tai said eventually.

"So do you," Summer answered. "Tai, I'm sorry for leaving, and I'm sorry for never telling you about Ruby, but when I found out Raven was Yang's mother, I panicked. I just, I don't want anything to do with Raven. She tried to kill me, Tai."

Taiyang sighed. "Raven and I, we tried to make it work, after Yang was born, but it just got worse and worse. One day she just left and didn't come back. So I just got on with raising Yang. And I'm sorry too, for not explaining about Raven."

Summer shook her head, "No, it's my fault. I'm the one that left without a word."

Tai opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Ruby stepped out from behind Summer. "H-Hi," she stammered, looking up at her father.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ruby," he said with a smile, arms spread wide. "I don't suppose I could get a hug?" Ruby nodded wordlessly and they wrapped their arms around each other. "Oof," Tai said. "Go easy on an old man, okay?"

Yang snorted. "Old? Who was I saw flirting with college girls not that long ago?"

"Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Dad, they were younger than Ruby." At that, laughter spread across the room and as they took their seats, Ruby found she was glad to see her mother and father sitting next to each other. She wasn't ready to call Taiyang 'Dad,' not yet, but he seemed nice, at least.

Summer turned to Blake with a mischievous smile on her face. "So, since Ruby didn't tell me anything about you but your name, Blake, or even that she was dating anyone until this morning, tell me about yourself."

Blake froze, unsure where to begin, but Weiss cleared her throat. "You did say you'd tell me how you met Ruby once everyone was here."

"Well, one morning I went to open my coffee shop..." Blake began.

* * *

 _Even after three months of being open, Blake's hands still shook with excitement as she reached into her purse for the keys to Blake Cat Coffee. Today's order from the bakery should be here shortly, and the new kid she'd hired was supposed to be showing up for his first morning shift today. Blake knew she was working herself too hard, but until things stabilized, she didn't have a whole lot of choice._

" _My love, I've returned to you at last."_

 _Dammit. Blake turned around to see Adam standing there, his arms open wide. "I thought you were in jail," she said, the hands that had been shaking moments ago now curling into fists, keys digging into the palm of her right hand._

" _Nothing can keep us apart for long, Blake. I'll always come back for you." He stepped toward Blake, taking her by the arm, but she knocked his hand away. "Don't hurt me like this, Blake. You know we're destined to be together."_

 _"Leave. Me. Alone," Blake hissed, reaching into her pocket again, this time for the pepper spray she carried with her, just in case._

" _Is everything all right here?" Standing off to one side behind Adam was a shorter woman with black hair highlighted in red, wearing a jogging outfit. The intruder bounced on the balls of her feet, eyes moving back and forth between Blake and Adam._

" _We're fine," Adam said. "I just stopped by to talk to my girlfriend, that's all."_

" _I''m not your girlfriend, Adam, not anymore," Blake said as she pulled her hand out of her pocket, fingers curled to hide the pepper spray. "Now leave, and don't come back."_

" _Doesn't look like she wants you here, mister. I think you'd better go, before things have to get official." Now the intruder's eyes were locked in on Adam, and she stood, hands just above her waist, feet shoulder-width apart. Blake recognized the stance from one of her self-defense classes. This girl was going to try and play hero, and just end up getting herself hurt, maybe even killed._

" _Why don't you mind your own business!" With a snarl, Adam swung out a fist to catch the other woman in the gut, trying to take her out of the fight with a single blow. But she was too fast, too savvy to fall for it. She danced around him, grabbing his arm and wrenching it up and around behind his back._

" _See, now that's assaulting a kingdom officer," the intruder said, a smile on her face. "Sorry, did I forget to mention I'm a VBI agent? Special Agent Ruby Rose, at your service."  
_

" _Let go of me," Adam growled, and Ruby made a clucking noise in response. "No can do, bright eyes. See, I caught you assaulting her, and now you've gone and assaulted me. I gave you a chance to leave. Should have taken it." He lashed out at Ruby with his other arm, and she grabbed it in her other hand, jerking it behind his back to join the other one. He struggled, trying to use his greater weight and strength to throw off the much lighter Ruby. Blake couldn't help but think how Ruby looked like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. "Miss? Could you—oof!— call nine-one-one? If I let go of him to call, I'm afraid he'll run or attack one of us. I didn't bring handcuffs on my jog, and I really don't want to have to knock him out."_

 _Blake pulled out her phone and started to dial, her hands really shaking now. Adam got the idea to slam Ruby against the front of the building. The first slam brought a grunt, but when he went for a second, she got her legs between them and the building, kicking off and sending him sprawling to the ground with her on top. Faster than a cobra's strike, Ruby let go of his arms and slipped an arm around his neck. "Really didn't want to do this," she muttered, "but Romeo here isn't giving me a choice." Adam's arms flailed for a few moments, trying to get Ruby off his back, then his struggles grew frantic before subsiding, leaving him unconscious on the ground._

" _What did you do to him?" Blake asked, her mouth open in shock._

" _Sleeper hold," Ruby said as she stripped off Adam's jacket, using it to hog-tie him, then rolled him on his back. "Only puts him out for a few seconds, but sometimes that's all you need." She stood up, rubbing her arms in the early-morning chill. "Hey, could I get a cup of coffee while wait? My name's Ruby, by the way."_

* * *

"Wait, wait," Yang said, waving her hands in front of her. "Ruby _choked out_ your boyfriend?"

"She did," Blake said, giving Ruby a smile of her own. Feeling bold, Blake leaned forward and gave Ruby a kiss on the cheek. "I've got pictures to prove it. Adam and I had known each other since we were children, and then one day he asked me ut on a date. It wasn't long before he got... creepy. Started stalking me, that kind of thing. Adam tried to stop me from opening my coffee shop, and when I refused, he, he got violent. That's what landed him in jail."

"Your heroine," Summer murmured, smiling at the two of them.

"And asked her out on the spot, I'll bet," Yang said with a laugh.

"What? No," Ruby said, then muttered, "I waited a month. And she turned me down."

"Then turned around and asked _her_ out a couple of days later," Blake added, drawing a round of laughter from everyone.

"Well, what about the two of you?" Ruby asked, looking at Yang and Weiss, her cheeks still red. "How'd the two of you meet?"

"Kindergarten," Weiss said before Yang could speak. "A boy was picking on me because of my white hair, and Yang beat him up. The brute," she finished, giving Yang an affectionate smile.

"Best day off from school I ever had," Yang replied, reaching out and taking Weiss' hand.

"Oh, damn, I just realized, I missed my sister's wedding," Ruby said, pouting.

"Well, considering you didn't know you had a sister at the time, I think we can forgive you," Weiss answered, winking at Ruby.

* * *

"So how are things?" Ruby said as she walked with Summer to her car.

"Things, things are good," was her mother's answer. "We, we're talking. He, he wants to spend time with me. Not dating-dating," she said at Ruby's smile, "More like getting to know each other again." Summer glanced over her shoulder at Blake, who was walking behind them far enough behind them to let them talk in private. "I like Blake; she seems like she's got a good head on her shoulders."

"So you're okay with…?"

Summer reached out and wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders, giving her daughter a hug. "Never been a problem for me, Ruby. I was a little worried about your total lack of a love life, but I guess you were just shy."

Ruby nodded, her cheeks turning as red as her namesake gem. Footsteps coming up behind them drew Summer and Ruby's attention, and they turned to look at Blake. "Hey, Ruby, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Go on," Summer said. "I think I can drive home by myself."

After Summer had left, Ruby and Blake stood there on the sidewalk, their breath forming fog in the cold winter air. "Are you okay, Blake?" Ruby asked, reaching out and taking Blake's hand.

Blake nodded. "I'm okay," she said, giving Ruby's hand a squeeze. "A lot, a lot to take in right now. Your family, they seem nice."

"Yeah, Yang and I get along really well at work, so I guess that helps. Not a big fan of Weiss, but maybe she'll grow on me," Ruby said with a shrug.

"Hmm." Blake thought back to the conversation she'd had with Weiss before the others had arrived. "She's got reasons for being as private as she is. I'll tell you about them later." Blake drew a deep breath. "Ruby, it doesn't feel right that your family knows about us, but my parents don't. Are you okay with meeting them?"

"Yup!" Ruby answered, grinning from ear to ear. "Now's as good a time as any, with me being suspended and all."

"Good. I'll give them a call," Blake said. Another threshold crossed. "Hey, Ruby?"

"Yeah, Blake?"

"Didn't you ride here with your mom?"

Ruby blinked. "Uh…"

"Come on," Blake said, shaking her head at Ruby, "I'll give you a ride home."


	3. The Cat's Out of the Closet

Ruby's phone rang and she snaked out an arm from beneath the covers to snag it from beside the bed, answering it before she was even fully awake. "Rose," she muttered propping herself up on an elbow. It was never a good sign when work called her at home. Wait, wasn't she on suspension?

"Who's this? Where's Blake?" The voice on the other end was gruff and held just a touch of annoyance.

Ruby gulped and looked at the phone. "Dammit," she whispered under her breath. Ruby put the call on mute and rolled over. "Blake, wake up," she said, shaking Blake's shoulder.

"Five more minutes," the other woman muttered, her face still buried in a pillow.

"No, now. My phone rang, and I answered it without thinking, only it wasn't mine, it was yours, and it was your dad, and I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby knew she was babbling, but she figured this might be an okay time for panic.

With a sigh, Blake rolled over on her side, blinking in the early morning sun as she reached out to take the phone from Ruby. "Morning, dad."

"Good morning, Blake. Who was it that answered your phone?" Her dad sounded amused. "Is there someone your mother and I should meet?"

"Someone who should have made sure of whose phone they were answering," Blake said, glaring at Ruby who had the decency to look embarrassed. "And no, I didn't forget about you coming into town today. How long until your train arrives?"

"About an hour. Blake, if you've got other plans, we can take a taxi to the hotel."

Blake paused, looking at Ruby and mouthing the word _Today?_ Ruby just smiled and nodded, mentally going through the clothes she had stashed at Blake's place. "No, it's fine. There is someone I need to introduce you to."

* * *

"So why are we at the train station?"

Blake sighed. Most of the time, Ruby was pretty good at keeping herself together, but with the idea of meeting Blake's parents on top of yesterday's surprises, Ruby was fraying at the seams. "My dad doesn't like to fly. If he can avoid it, he'll drive or take the train." Her girlfriend nodded and straightened her jacket nervously. Blake just sighed and reminded herself to make it up to Ruby later. "Oh, here's their train."

Blake's parents stepped off the train, and she couldn't help but smile and wave. Blake hadn't seen them much in the last couple of years, but, well, her parents were very busy people and Blake had decided to put down roots in Vale after college. "Mom, dad, it's good to see you again," she said, her mother pulling her in for a hug.

"Blake, honey, it's been too long." Kali pulled back, looking her daughter over. The shadows in Blake's eyes were gone, replaced by a sparkle that put Kali's heart at ease. After what had happened with Adam, Kali had been very worried about her daughter. "You look better than the last time we saw you. And who's this?" she added, glancing at Ruby who stood a few steps behind Blake.

The moment of truth. "Mom, dad, this is Ruby," Blake said, reaching out and taking Ruby's hand, pulling her closer.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ruby said with a quick nod.

Ghira raised an eyebrow. "You're the one that answered Blake's phone this morning."

"Heh, yeah, sorry about that."

"So, are you two…?" Kali's voice trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.

"Yes." Blake fought to keep her voice steady as she watched for her parents' reaction. "Ruby's my girlfriend." Strange how it got easier to say out loud, even as it seemed more real. She felt Ruby give her hand a squeeze and gave one in return.

Kali couldn't help but frown as she looked Ruby over. Combat boots, jeans, a dark red tank-top, messy hair dyed red at the tips, and a battered jacket that didn't quite hide the bulge under her right armpit. Something about this Ruby practically screamed 'thug,' and Kali wasn't sure she wanted her anywhere near Blake, much less dating her. "It's very nice to meet you," she said carefully. "Blake didn't tell us she was seeing anyone."

"That's my fault," Bake jumped in before Ruby could say anything. "I, uh, I wanted to keep things quiet, but yesterday… yesterday I decided I was ready to let people know about us."

"And what prompted this change of heart?" Ghira asked with a grunt.

"Long story," Ruby said, giving Blake a smile. "About which Blake was probably the most amazing girlfriend ever, and I don't know how I will ever repay her."

"That almost makes it sound like you dragged Blake into some sort of trouble," Kali said, raising an eyebrow at Blake.

"No, nothing like that," Blake said, trying to reassure her mother. "Just kind of weird and awkward and too long to stand around here telling you. Come on, let's get you checked in at your hotel, and we'll tell you the whole story over lunch."

* * *

Kali's eyes narrowed as she opened the door to Blake's SUV. "Blake, why is there a gun in your car?"

Blake winced. She'd forgotten how much her mother hated guns. "I got it after what happened with Adam, the second time. It helped me feel safer."

"She's a pretty good shot, too. Not as good as me, but she'll get there," Ruby added from where she was loading Kali and Ghira's luggage into the back.

"Ruby, they wanted to make you a sniper," Blake laughed. "There's no way I'll ever be _that_ good."

Kali claimed the front passenger seat by some sort of maternal judo, leaving Ruby sitting behind Kali and Ghira sitting behind Blake. Ghira snuck a peek at his wife's expression as they stopped at a stoplight and decided to break the ice a little. "So, how did the two of you meet?"

"Ruby's the one that saved me from Adam when he got out of prison. She saw him hassling me and stepped in," Blake said, putting her foot on the gas as the light turned green.

"Nothing I wouldn't have done for anyone else," Ruby muttered, embarrassed.

"Bullshit." Blake slammed the brakes hard, cars honking as they swerved to avoid her SUV. "Ruby Rose," she said, turning to face Ruby, "you saved me from a man who _put me in the fucking hospital_ last time we met. Never, ever, doubt how much that meant to me."

"Oh," was all Ruby could say. She'd known that Adam had gotten violent with Blake, but not how violent. A part of her mind she was trying to ignore started wondering if she could get away with killing or at least crippling him next time they met.

"But that's not why I love you, Ruby. It's a thousand little things, like hot tea on cold, rainy mornings, or putting up with anchovies on pizza when I know you hate them." Ruby blushed and looked out the window, not sure what to say. "I love you because of who you are, every part of you."

Ruby looked up now, a smile that reached her eyes fixed firmly on Blake. "I love you too, Blake." She knew Blake's parents were right there with them, but as far as Ruby was concerned, they could have been on the back side of the moon.

Another car honked as it swerved around them, shattering the moment. Blake blushed as she got them moving again. Ghira cleared his throat, giving his wife a look. "Correct me if I'm wrong," he rumbled, "but if Ruby's the one that saved you from Adam after he got out of jail, that means you two have been together abut a year now."

"Just about," Ruby answered, not wanting Blake distracted from getting them in motion again. "It took me a month after we met for me too work up the courage to ask her out."

"A month, I will add, of dropping by the coffee shop every day, just to talk to me," Blake said, smiling. "The look on your face when I turned you down the first time..."

"Meanie," Ruby said, mock-pouting.

"Oh come on, I asked _you_ out three days later."

"Ah, so that first date was sort of a thank-you for her saving you, then." Kali settled in her seat, nodding her head.

"No." Blake's tone was emphatic. "After Adam, I promised myself never to feel I 'owed' anything like that to anyone, ever again. Ruby got that first date by _not_ asking me out right away. She earned the second and everything since by being herself."

"Blake?" Ruby was craning her head, looking out the front windshield. "There's a roadblock up ahead. Find a parking space and I'll go see what's up."

Blake drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she watched Ruby make her down the sidewalk. Her mother cleared her throat. "Blake, can I ask you something? Are you, are you _sure_ about Ruby? She doesn't seem your type."

"Mother..."

"I'm just trying to make sure she's right for you, Blake."

" _Mother."_ Blake was fighting to keep her temper in check. "May I remind you that the last person _you_ thought was my 'type,'" Blake made air quotes just to drive the point home, "was _Adam?_ And we all know how that worked out, don't we?"

"Blake-"

"She's right, Kali." Ghira didn't want to get between his daughter and his wife, but he couldn't let that go without comment. "As soon as Adam made his interest in Blake clear, you pretty much threw her at him. When she broke up with him, you pushed her to give him another chance. And I still remember how much you said you couldn't believe it when she called you—from the emergency room—to tell you what happened the night he attacked her.

"So I'm not going to assume anything about Ruby and let her show us who she is. I suggest you do the same." Ghira crossed his arms and closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. As far as he was concerned, the conversation was over.

Kali opened her mouth to answer, then closed it, guilt clouding her mind. There was no denying how much she'd encouraged Adam's pursuit of Blake. They'd grown up together, after all, and they'd seemed like such a perfect match all through high school. And then, she hadn't been able to believe it when he'd attacked Blake. How could she have been so wrong, so blind as to miss that he'd crossed the line into obsession? "I'm sorry, Blake. I just, I just want what's best for you."

"No, mom, like a lot of parents, you want what _you_ think is best for me." Blake watched as Ruby reached the barricade. She showed something to the patrolman there, who shook his head and pointed. Ruby disappeared from sight for a few minutes, and Blake sighed. "Mom, dad, Ruby may not be 'right' or perfect for me, but she makes me feel wonderful and safe. After what happened with Adam, the second time, I was having trouble sleeping. Ruby started hanging around the coffee shop when she wasn't at work, just to make me feel better. Then she took me to the dojo she uses, showed me some moves. And she waited, mom. After we'd been dating for a while, she said she wanted to ask me out that first day, but she knew it was too soon and she was scared of blowing it, because she knew she'd only get one shot with someone as amazing as I was. And that's when I knew I was really starting to fall for her." Blake stared out the window, a goofy grin on her face that would have annoyed her if you pointed it out to her. Her good mood vanished when Ruby reappeared on the sidewalk next to the car, her face grim. "Bad news, everyone. You said you were staying at the Vale Hilton, right? It, ah, it's currently on fire. Fire marshal said it looks like a kitchen fire that got out of hand. They're still working on getting it under control, and he's not sure how long it'll be. So we're going to have to find you another hotel."

Ghira grunted, but before he could speak, Kali asked, "Ruby, how did you get that cop to point you in the right direction."

"Professional courtesy. They'll say things to me they wouldn't say to you or Blake," Ruby said as she slid into the car.

"Professional courtesy?" Kali was puzzled. "I don't, I don't get it. I mean, with the way you're dressed, and that gun you're carrying, I imagined you were some sort of thug or criminal or something, but Blake trusts you, so I don't know what to think."

Ruby and Blake just stared at Kali, stunned. Blake had never seen her mother act like this before. Ruby just couldn't figure out where Kali got the idea that she was some sort of criminal. Then it hit her. "Blake? We never told your parents what I do for a living, did we?"

"No," Blake answered, comprehension dawning.

Ruby reached inside her jacket. "Then why don't I show your mother what I showed that cop over there, and maybe that will explain things." She pulled out a slim leather folder and handed it to Kali.

Puzzled, Kali opened the folder. "You work for the VBI?"

"Special agent Ruby Rose, at your service," Ruby said, putting on her best 'professional face' and making Blake snort.

Kali shook her head. "I still don't like the idea of you having a gun, Blake, but…" She paused, wanting to make sure she got this right. "Ruby, I'm sorry. I made a snap judgment about you, and I was wrong. You'd think that at my age, I'd know better than to jump to conclusions. I don't like guns, and I never have."

"Probably not a good idea to tell you I let Blake play with an SMG, then?" Ruby said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

"No." Blake's mother grimaced. "Blake, I never told you about what happened to my mother. When I was twelve, she was shot and killed in a robbery."

Ruby winced. "Guess I really put my foot in that one, didn't I? Mrs. Belladonna, I was raised around firearms, and my mother made sure I had a healthy respect for them. And ma'am, if it helps, I made sure Blake took a firearms safety from a professional, certified instructor before she bought that weapon she has in the console. And it's smaller than she originally wanted."

"Please, call me Kali." She passed the badge back to Ruby. "I guess if you're a VBI agent, that explains how you were able to take down Adam. He's a lot bigger than you if I remember right."

"Ruby rode him like a bucking bronco and trussed him up like a turkey," Blake laughed. "Someone gave me security footage from the jeweler's across the street."

"Blaake," Ruby whined, and the others laughed. "Okay, now that that's sorted out, can we get back to the problem of where your parents are staying tonight? No offense, Blake, but your place is kinda small."

"Economical," Blake retorted.

"There's another problem," Ghira rumbled. I was supposed to be hosting a dinner in the Hilton's private dining room tomorrow night. I need to find somewhere else to have it."

"That's probably a little more solvable," Blake said, reaching for her phone.

"Weiss?" asked Ruby.

"Weiss," Blake confirmed as she typed out a message. "How many people, dad?"

"Twenty. And, um, are you sure this 'Weiss' can help us?"

"If she can't, she might know someone who can." _Weiss, I need a favor. My dad's in town, and he needs somewhere to host a dinner for twenty people tomorrow night_

The reply was quick and sharp. _And you're coming to me with this now?_

Blake: _Their hotel's on fire and he was supposed to have the dinner there_

Weiss: _Very well. Meet us at the restaurant and I will see what I can do_

Yang: _Dammit, Blake, do you know how hard it is to get her to take a day off? Especially on the same day I have off?_

Ruby: _We're on suspension,_ _sis_ _._ _Right now every day is a day off_

Yang: _And I_ _wanna spend it_ _showing my wife how much I love her. You might consider doing the same with Blake_

Blake: _Oh, I've already let my assistant manager know_ An idea popped into Blake's head, and she looked back at Ruby. "Okay, we're going to run an errand on our way to meet Weiss. You two need to find a new hotel anyway, right Dad?" Ruby frowned at her, puzzled, then jumped when her phone buzzed. Ah, much became clear.

Kali was dozing lightly as Ghira worked out their new reservation. She jumped as someone knocked on her window. "Yes, what—oh, it's you, Ruby. I didn't recognize you"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. Blake's idea had been to swing by Ruby's place and have Ruby change into her normal working outfit. A three-piece suit complete with dark red button-down shirt and sunglasses made Ruby look a lot more formidable. "I understand, ma'am. I'm used to being underestimated." She climbed into the car, not quite able to keep a smirk off her face. "Oh, Blake, I brought your present with me. Figured I should give it to you before I forgot."

"Present-oh, last night was our anniversary, wasn't it? With everything going on, I totally forgot." Blake took the slim little package from Ruby, unwrapping it with a puzzled look on her face at the books within. _"Ninjas of Love?_ Ruby, I already have the whole series."

"Open one of the covers."

"Oh my god, they're _signed?!"_ Blake exclaimed, making her mother laugh. Blake had always been so calm and collected, seeing her lose it and fangirl out was a rarity. "How-when-?"

"Remember last month, when I got called in to work a weekend thing at the last minute? Turned out they wanted me to blend into the crowd at the Vale Comic Con. I do pretty good at looking like a harmless college girl when I need to. She was there as a guest of honor and I, uh, asked the con staff nicely if I could get a signature without having to wait in line," Ruby finished, embarrassed.

"'To Blake, courtesy of a young lady who knows how lucky she is,'" Blake read aloud. "Thank you, Ruby. Oh! I have yours in my purse." The cat-eared girl fished out a bright red envelope, handing it over.

Now it was Ruby's turn to look puzzled. "A gift certificate to… Vapor Geeks? Where's that?"

"It's a vape shop. They sell those 'e-cigarette' things. I, um, I thought it might help with the quitting smoking," Blake answered.

"You smoke, Ruby?" Kali asked, turning around to face Ruby.

"Heh, yeah, have since high school. Blake's making me quit."

"I'm not surprised," Ghira rumbled. "She's been after her mother to quit for years."

"Which makes it more surprising she'd take up with a smoker herself," Kali said, smiling at Blake. "I suppose it goes to show how much she cares about you."

Blake nodded, putting the car in reverse and pulling out into traffic. "Ruby's incredible, mom. I just, I just want you to get to know her, that's all."

* * *

Ghira stopped, reading the name outside Schnee's. "Blake, are you sure about this? Throwing a dinner party at a restaurant owned by Jacques Schnee? The people I'm meeting with, they might get the wrong impression."

"Trust me, dad," Blake said, shaking her head as she opened the door. "The owner likes Jacques Schnee about as much as you do. Maybe less. She's had more time to learn to loathe him."

Weiss was waiting for them in a dining room bigger than the one they'd eaten in the night before. "I hope this will meet your needs, Mister-" She stopped, her eyes growing narrow. "Blake, you didn't mention who your father was."

"I don't get it," Ruby said. "What's she talking about, Blake?"

Blake sighed. "Ruby, my dad's the head of what's probably one of the biggest whistle-blower groups out there. Last year, they got half the board of directors of Winchester Bank sent to prison. Most of the rest resigned in disgrace. Weiss' dad would probably dance a jig if he heard mine was dead."

Ghira frowned. "Then you are Weiss Schnee, younger daughter of Jacques Schnee?"

Weiss nodded. "Indeed, although I'd use the word 'hostile' to describe our relationship. When we have time, I'd be more than happy to walk you through my father's attempts to ruin my life." A satisfied smile spread across her face. "But first, let me say that it gives me no small pleasure to put Schnee's at the service of the Menagerie Group. Now, let's get down to brass tacks. This promises to be a challenge, and I do love a challenge..."


	4. Nobody Expects the Valish Inquisition

Kali couldn't help but laugh when she saw Ruby striding across the restaurant's patio the next morning at breakfast. "Honestly, Ruby, I'm not going to forget you're a VBI agent overnight. You can wear whatever you like, you know."

Ruby shrugged as she picked up the menu. "I'm wearing my work clothes because I have to go talk to OPM today about my sister."

Ghira grunted and looked at her over his newspaper. "What's the problem with your sister? Does it have to do with why you're suspended?"

"We really need to do better about telling you things," Blake said, shaking her head. "That's the second time we've left out something important. And yes, it has to do with Ruby's sister." 

"Yeah, it does, but in a kinda good way." Ruby took a deep breath. She was probably going to get really super-tired of teling this story. "The day before yesterday, I get dragged into the Director's office first thing. Didn't even reach my desk. Turns out my supervisor was my half-sister, so they suspended both of us while they decide if we knew we were sisters, and what to do about it."

"Half-sister?" This made Ghira raise an eyebrow. "And you didn't know about it?"

"Nope," was Ruby's answer as the waiter took her order. "We have the same father, but different mothers. Until the day before yesterday, he was just a name on my birth certificate. Growing up, it was just me and mom, but then bam, here's the sister I knew but didn't know about, and a dad and a sister-in-law. It was a hell of a day and that's the reason Blake both forgot about our anniversary and you coming into town." She sighed wistfully. "And I'm assuming that it's non-smoking here?"

Kali laughed. "That's why we're eating on the patio; you can smoke out here. And that does sound like a busy day. Have you met the rest of your new 'family?'"

Ruby nodded as she pulled out her cigarettes, making Blake shake her head in resignation. "Yep. We had dinner with them that night. When Yang—that's my half-sister, and my supervisor—talked to our dad, he couldn't wait to meet me, and see my mother again. And, you met Weiss; she's Yang's wife." She lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply, looking out out past the low hedges lining the patio at the traffic on the street beyond, her mind adrift as she exhaled. "Taiyang seems nice enough, but I'm not ready to call him 'dad' yet, you know? And Weiss, she seems kind of reserved, but I've got a hunch she's a lot nicer once she gets to know you and opens up. I met her father on a case, once, a couple of years ago, and he seemed kind of harsh, so I can understand her being the way she is. Plus they both seemed to like Blake, which makes things easier."

Ghira smiled. "Well, that does sound like a rather busy day. I was kind of annoyed at Blake for forgetting about our arrival, but if she was helping you deal with that, I guess we can forgive her."

Blake couldn't help but laugh. "That's so gracious of you, father," she said in a fairly good imitation of Weiss' Atlesian accent, making everyone chuckle.

"I'm glad you think so," Ghira answered, giving his daughter a smile. "And hopefully we'll get the chance to meet the rest of your family while we're here, Ruby."

After they had eaten, Ruby looked at her watch and sighed, declaring it was time for her to go and face the music, but not before she collected a kiss from Blake on the way out. Kali couldn't help but smile at the dreamy look on Blake's face as she watched Ruby leave. "It's been a long time since I've seen you this happy, Blake" Kali paused, not sure how to continue. "I don't want to pry—" this drew a snort from Ghira—"but is something troubling you? You seem worried."

Blake frowned. "Ruby hates reviews like this. They're hard on her, almost harder than-" She stopped, not wanting to continue.

"Harder than what?" Ghira set down his newspaper, reaching out to take Blake's hand. "Tell us, Blake."

"I worry about her a lot, when she's at work, or she's on a case and I won't be seeing her for a few days. Ruby, she's been shot in the line of duty, twice." Blake's hand clenched into a fist, crumpling her napkin. "The first time was before I met her, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The second time was four months ago, and that time she was in the hospital for days and then it was weeks before she was recovered enough to go back to work. I, uh, pretty much moved in with her then, to take care of her." Her eyes dropped as she felt a flush of red spread across her cheeks.

"Mm." Ghira gave his wife a knowing look, then turned back to Blake. "And how did it feel, being around her all the time like that?"

"Wonderful," Blake sighed. "I mean, it was great, going to sleep next to her, knowing the first person I saw in the morning was her. Ruby, she, she kept telling me she'd be fine, that I needed to take care of the shop, that it it was okay to leave her alone, that she'd be fine, but-" Blake stopped, hesitating. "When she called, after she got out of surgery, my heart skipped a beat. I dropped everything and ran to the hospital. Left some poor guy who'd been working for me for two weeks running things. Seeing her lying in that bed, it was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. The best thing, because when she smiled at me, I knew she was okay. But the worst thing too, because she could have died, and it just, it just tore me up inside, on the way to the hospital."

"It sounds like she means a lot to you," Kali said with a smile. "Have the two of you talked about any long-term plans?"

"Uh-" Blake's mind froze. Exactly what was her mother talking about? Not that she'd object to making things between her and Ruby more permanent, but-

Ghira chuckled. "I think your mother's getting a little ahead of herself. Might I suggest moving in together, if you think you're ready? You might even do some looking around this morning while Ruby's off answering the same silly questions and again."

[break]

Morning sunlight streamed through the windows as Yang worked. She had her own special way of dealing with Office of Personnel Management reviews. OPM's goons always liked to lord it over VBI agents, making them wait, answer the same questions over and over again, fill out the same form three different times, then re-do the forms if they differed in any way, that kind of nonsense. So Yang liked to yank their chains by pretending not to take it seriously. One time she convinced her inquisitor that she's smuggled in a bottle of vodka when really it was full of water. Totally worth the chewing-out from Ozpin.

Today she'd selected something much tamer. This review should be just for the record, and she wanted it to be over as soon as possible so she and Ruby could get back to work. So Yang was spending the standard waiting time building a house of cards. She was humming as she set the last two cards in place when Arthur Watts stepped into the conference room, Yang's legal representative right behind him. "Ah, Agent Xiao Long, how nice to see you again. If you're busy, I can come back to you later."

"Nope, just killing time while you got here. I find a house of cards to be a wonderful metaphor for modern society, don't you? So many little things, none of which can stand on their own, all of them reliant on each other. Take one thing out and—" Yang reached out and plucked a card out of the middle of the structure, sending the whole thing tumbling to the table— "and it all comes crashing down. Just give me a moment to clean this up. How you doing today, Coco? Tell you what, I'll buy you lunch when we're done. I happen to know a five-star restaurant that's got a killer seafood selection."

Coco pulled down her sunglasses, looking over them at Yang and winked. "Done. Now let's get this over with, okay?"

Watts took his seat, setting a notepad and a couple of manila folders on the table. "Now, Agent Xiao Long, you and Agent Rose have worked together for, let's see, nineteen months?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Yang answered as she started to retrieve her jacket from the back of a chair, then thought better of it and sat down.

He leaned forward, his eyes intent. "And in that time, you never discussed your families?"

Yang shrugged. "No, other than we were both raised by single parents, me by my dad and her by her mom, and that only came up because she had a picture of her and her mom on her desk."

"No discussion of your personal lives, not ever?" Watts regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, Ruby knew I was married, but other than that, no, not really. I don't bring personal stuff to work."

"'Ruby.'" Watts stopped writing for a moment to fold his hands in front of him. "So the two of you are on a first-name basis, are you? Were you before?"

Yang shrugged. "No, we weren't, but we figured that if we were sisters, we probably should be, right?"

"Mm. And how do you get along with… Ruby?"

"We work well together, I guess you could say we're friends. We had lunch together, sometimes."

"And yet here you are, unknowingly half-sisters." Watts reached over and opened one of the folders. "I'm still reading all of them of course, but so far, I notice that your reports and reviews concerning Agent Rose are much more likely to contain praise than reports concerning other agents..."

"If this is about Mercury Black again..." Yang growled, her hands clenching into fists.

"No, that matter is quite settled, as far as we're concerned," Watts said, giving a cold smile. "His questioning of the witness crossed the line and you were quite right to report it. There is, of course, also the matter of the lawsuit he filed against the VBI after his termination, but that's not what concerns us today." Watts set the folder on the conference table and leaned forward. "In the nineteen months you've been Agent Rose's supervisor, you've put her in for commendations six times. That's a lot, don't you think?"

Okay, that was it. Messing with Yang was one thing, but messing with her sister, that was something else. Even if they'd only known they were related for two days. "Listen, Watts, let me tell you about Agent Ruby Rose. She's got good instincts, but she also knows better than to blindly follow her gut. She's through as all hell, and she never flinches, never backs down. Ever. Ruby earned one of those commendations by taking a bullet so a civilian didn't. Another one was rescuing a kidnapped kid by pretending to be a drunk, lost college girl. Ruby's a good agent, and you know what? I may not have been around when she was growing up, but I'm kinda proud she's my sister. I'm done." Yang started to stand, but Watts waved her back to her seat.

"Please, Agent Xiao Long, I'm not here to, what's the expression, 'diss' your sister. By my reading, she's quite the agent, and so are you. In those nineteen months, you've earned four commendations yourself. Three of which involved your half-sister, I will point out." Watts flipped the folder shut and opened another. "You champion your sister's cause, but you're quite the agent yourself. And I see that the two of you are highly effective together."

Watts closed the second folder, folding his hands together. "Agent Xiao Long, I think we've had a misunderstanding. This is not a hostile meeting. Rather, it's just to clarify an administrative manner. Neither you nor your sister is in trouble _per se,_ this is just to make sure that the VBI and the Office of Personnel Management understand the situation. Now, weren't aware that Agent Rose—Ruby—was your half-sister?"

"No."

"And to your knowledge, was Ruby aware you're half-sister?"

"To my knowledge, no," Yang answered, rolling her eyes.

"Good." Watts wrote briefly on his notepad. "Now that the main point has been clarified, I'd like to go over some of the finer points of your working relationship with Agent Rose."

[break]

Ruby was yawning as she waited for the elevator. "Maidens, I could use some coffee," she muttered.

'You could join us for lunch, if you want." Yang said, sauntering up to the elevator, Coco in tow.

"Love to, sis, but Blake already invited me to lunch. You talking to OPM today too? I see Coco's with you," Ruby said, giving Coco a small wave.

"Meh, I got Watts, but he was a lot nicer than usual. This whole mess is for the record, and he knows it. Who'd you have?"

"Port. He asked a handful of questions, then spent the rest of the time telling war stories, same as usual." Ruby yawned again as they stepped into the elevator. "Toughest part of getting questioned by Port is catching the questions he slips in during the war stories."

Yang turned to look at Ruby, her mouth half-open from shock. "Wait, he slips in questions during the war stories?"

"Yeah, you hadn't noticed?" Ruby laughed. "See, he kinda uses the stories to wear down your resistance, the slips in some low-key questions that you answer without thinking about it. I watched him work on a kidnapping suspect once. After two hours of talking, Port knew where the woman was. I was first through the door," she finished with a grin.

Blake was waiting in the lobby. "Nice to see you again, Yang. Inquisition time for you too?" Yang nodded, and Blake took a deep breath. "Ruby, there's something I need to ask you. Will you… will you move in with me?"

Ruby blinked with shock, then laughed. "Duh, I'd love to move in together. But I think you'd better move in with me. There's barely room for you in your place."

Blake sighed with relief. "Actually, I was thinking we could find a new place, together? Maybe somewhere kinda between the coffee shop and here? And two bedrooms." At a questioning look from Ruby, Blake added, "I want an office at home, somewhere I can work on my writing."

"Got it. Might be tough, but I think we can swing it." Ruby wrapped Blake in her arms, whispering "I love you," in her ear and kissing Blake on the cheek.

"So, lunch? I hear it's a thing," Yang tossed in, grinning from ear to ear. "Finding your first 'together' place can be kind of a chore. Or at least it was with me and Weiss."

Blake laughed, pulling Ruby toward the door. "I take it Weiss was choosy?"

"Don't get me started..."


	5. Bouncing Betty

"I'm still uncertain about this, my lady."

For about the ten thousandth time that night, Sienna Khan rolled her eyes. "Corsac, two things. One, don't call me 'my lady.' My claim to the throne of Mistral is a family legend, nothing more. And two, I called Ghira myself and asked if he was certain about using this restaurant, and he said he was absolutely sure." She stopped, remembering something that hadn't seemed relevant at the time. "And then he laughed and said I'd understand why when I met the owner."

"I'm with my brother on this one. Despite his ridiculous ideas about your family history, he has a point." Corsac snorted, but Fennec carried on. "The Menagerie Group has made a lot of enemies, and having our meeting somewhere we haven't secured in advance ourselves makes me nervous. And then there's the name..."

"I understand, but nobody could have anticipated a fire at our original location, now could they? Just being alive is a risk. Besides," Sienna Khan looked away from the two brothers sitting across from her and out the window of her limousine, "there's an added bonus. Apparently, he's convinced Blake to join us." There, that should shut at least one of the brothers up.

Sienna didn't have to be looking at him to know that the ears on top of Fennec's head were standing at rapt attention. "Oh my. I thought she'd left us for good after Adam attacked her. I heard she settled down somewhere after college, but I hadn't heard where. I wonder how Ghira managed to bring her back."

She faked a bored shrug. In truth, she was rather curious herself. "Apparently, she opened a coffee shop here in Vale after college. And I'm going to do both of you a favor and warn you not to mention Adam. Ghira told me that Adam managed to get out of prison somehow, and went right after Blake. He didn't manage to hurt her this time, but Adam is persona non grata and a subject to avoid. Period." She turned to look at the brothers, her eyes narrow, and both of them gulped as they remembered that Sienna's Faunus aspect was a Bengal tiger.

The car slowed to a stop, and Corsac stepped out onto the sidewalk, holding the door open for Sienna and his brother. He couldn't help but give the restaurant's owners credit. The exterior was very tastefully understated, and the well-landscaped lawn between the sidewalk and the building itself was a nice touch he was certain was a rarity here in downtown Vale. Then he noticed the rather pretty young woman standing at the end of the walkway. Security, he was sure of it. She carried herself with an air of authority, and he'd be willing to bet anything you cared to name that she was armed and probably wearing at least a light bulletproof vest under her suit jacket. As he watched, a man who carried himself with an air of self-importance approached her with a woman on his arm. "Sorry sir, Schnee's is closed for a private party."

"We have a reservation!" the man snapped, trying to push past her.

"And I understand that sir, but it's closed for the evening." The woman shrugged and leaned forward, invading the man's space before he could do the same to her. "The owner herself made the call. Absolutely no-one that's not on the list. We apologize for the inconvenience." The man stomped off in a huff, and Corsac gulped. Something about that woman told her that she was probably one of the most dangerous people he'd met in his entire life.

"Something wrong?" Sienna asked as she adjusted the shawl she wore around her shoulders.

"If she's typical of their security, someone is taking it seriously. At least tonight." Sienna just shrugged and headed toward the walkway as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Which she didn't, at least as far as the woman standing watch was concerned. "Miss Khan, Mister Albain, Mister Albain, you're all expected. You're the first to arrive. Welcome to Schnee's."

That made Sienna pause. "Out of curiosity, do you know which Mister Albain is which?"

"Fennec is the one with fox ears, Corsac has a fox tail," the woman answered, not missing a beat as she went back to watching the sidewalk.

Now that did impress Sienna. She was used to being recognized on sight, but the security recognizing her assistants was something else. The man at the door had the same air of calm competence as the woman guarding the walkway, and Sienna dipped her head in appreciation as he opened the door for her. Some people who were born to the kind of wealth she was treated 'unimportant' people like they were little more than ambulatory furniture. Not Sienna. She'd gotten a hard lesson very young that they were living, breathing people, with families, lives, hopes, dreams, and fears.

As she took in the dining room, Sienna's appreciation of the trouble Ghira had gone to finding this meeting site rose. The owners were probably losing a few thousand Lien of business closing up tonight, not to mention the loss in reputation. Then her eyes caught the woman rising to greet them from the large table dominating the center of the room, and Sienna smiled as she understood why Ghira had been so certain she'd understand when she met the owner. "Weiss Schnee, so good to see you again. I wondered where you'd disappeared to. I take it you're the Schnee in Schnee's?"

Weiss nodded. "Of course, despite my father's best efforts to sue and harass me out of business. If you like, later I can show you my extensive collection of court filings and legal decisions that it's taken to get this far. Starting with him trying to say I didn't have the right to put my own name on the building because it was copyrighted. Things go downhill from there." They shared a laugh and then the smile on Weiss' face shifted from polite to something more genuine as a blonde woman dressed similarly to the guards outside sauntered up, stopping to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Yang, not now, we're both working. Oh, Sienna, this is my wife, Yang Xiao Long. We have her to thank for the security tonight; Yang is an agent with the VBI and asked some of her friends to watch over us."

Yang grinned. "Pleased to meet you. Yeah, I knew some people who think the Menagerie Group's a great bunch, and most of them jumped at the chance to help you out. Oh, and you can expect some angry phone calls tomorrow, babe. Ilia says she's turned away over a dozen people already, and taken six phone numbers to soothe egos." Weiss just nodded in acknowledgment. She'd expected fallout from closing for a night.

"So how did Ghira get you to host this on such short notice?" Sienna asked as they took their seats, a waiter setting coffee next to her and disappearing without a word.

"Blake asked me for help, after the fire at the original location." Weiss shrugged. "My father will be furious at 'his' name being associated with the Menagerie Group in any way. Oh well."

Now Sienna was curious. "Friend of a friend sort of thing, I see. I'm surprised you know Blake. You and her move in very different circles."

"Well…" Before Weiss could explain, in walked Ghira, Kali on his arm and Blake and another woman with messy red-tipped black hair Sienna Khan didn't recognize.

"Sienna!" Ghira laughed. "I see you found the place. You even beat us here."

"We would have been here if _som_ _e_ _one,"_ Kali looked at the unknown woman, who looked embarrassed, "had been ready on time."

Fennec bowed deeply to Blake. "It's an honor to have you in our presence again, Miss Blake." He paused, licking his lips nervously. "I wonder, Sienna has said we will be in town for several days. I wonder if you might have dinner with me?"

Blake's eyes flickered to the woman standing next to her. "Fennec, I don't know how to say this, but… I'm in a relationship," she finished, taking the woman's hand in hers. "This is Ruby."

"Oh, I see. My apologies." Fennec bowed again, this time to Ruby. "You have my apologies, and if I may say, you're a very fortunate woman."

Blake shook her head. "No, it's me that's the lucky one. Ruby's the person that saved me when Adam attacked me the last time; it's how we met."

"Best jog of my life, ever!" Ruby said, laughing. "And it is my fault we're late, and I'm sorry; I couldn't find my dress shoes."

"That reminds me; how is apartment hunting going? Blake spent all morning on her laptop, checking out listings, trying to find somewhere perfect.," Kali asked as she sat down in the chair Ghira pulled out for her. "It's not like her parents were in town visiting or anything."

"We, ah, we're looking for a small house now, actually." Blake shook her head and smiled at Ruby. "She pointed out that we're going to need parking for two cars, and, um, Ruby would like somewhere we can put a gun safe."

Ruby nodded vigorously in agreement. "I talked the armorer into letting me keep most of my larger weapons in the armory, but I'd like to get them out of there if I can. And it's looking like renting a house in that area will cost us about the same as an apartment."

"Just let us know when moving day is, sis," Yang added. "I might even get Weiss to take a day off and help." Weiss just rolled her eyes at this.

"So the two of you are sisters?" Sienna asked, nodding as a waiter offered her coffee or water. "You don't look much alike."

"Long story. You see..." With that, Ruby and Yang launched into the story of how they'd learned they were related, passing the time while they waited for everyone else to arrive for the meeting.

* * *

When dinner was over, Ruby found herself leading the vanguard toward the sidewalk, with Sienna Khan on one side and Blake on the other and the Albain brothers a couple of steps behind them. "You look like a woman with a lot on her mind," Sienna said, sensing that something was troubling her.

"Well," Ruby sighed, "it sounds like some of the ways you guys get info might be questionable, but I did some research on you guys last night, and it looks like you do some real good in the world. So unless somebody at the VBI specifically asks me, I'm not going to say anything about it." Blake laughed, making Ruby look at her. "What, you're surprised I do something on my phone besides play games and talk to you? I know how to work a search engine, you know."

Ahead of them, Ilia was scowling at a malfunctioning autocab. The machine kept hitting the curb, rolling backward as it beeped in distress, then trying once more to mount the curb. "I hate these things, even when they're working right," she muttered darkly, her hand jerking toward where Ruby guessed she was wearing a holster then dropping to meet the other behind her back.

Ruby just laughed. Ilia hated any device more complex than a microwave, and even those were suspect in her eyes. Then Ruby saw the boxes hidden behind the autocab's tinted canopy, and her eyes narrowed, her mind kicking into overdrive. No, they weren't boxes.

They were plastic tubs.

Connected by wires…

"Down!" Ruby screamed, tackling Blake. There was a civilian on either side of her, and it was no question about which one she valued more.

There was just enough time for her to feel them hitting the ground before the blast washed over them.

* * *

Yang's hand was shaking as she tried to work the coffee machine. Dammit, why was this so hard? Coffee, regular, two creams, two sugars. Same way she always took it, so what was the problem? Okay, it would probably help if she could see straight.

"I'm fairly certain you should be in bed, Agent Xiao Long."

And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse. "I'll be with you in a minute, Goodbitch," Yang said with a sigh. Then her ears caught up with her brain, and she groaned. Great. "Deputy director, I'm sorry-"

"Yang." Hands took her by her remaining arm, guiding her firmly but gently back into the wheelchair she'd bullied a nurse into bringing her. "It's fine. I'm well aware of my caustic nickname, and it's not as if I haven't done my part to earn it. Believe it or not, I've mellowed in the last few years. My husband has done a lot to… smooth my rougher edges. Now, how would you like your coffee, even if I don't think you should have it?"

"Uh, two creams, two sugars, regular roast. Thanks. I, um, I didn't know you were married," Yang stammered, taking the cup Goodwitch handed her.

"ILike you, I try not to discuss my personal life at work. I think the only one that knows is Director Ozpin, and that's because he had to authorize my month-long honeymoon. Now," Goodwitch dragged a seat over, sitting down opposite Yang. "How are you? I note your prosthetic is missing, any other significant harm? What about Weiss, Ruby, anyone else you particularly value that was there?"

Yang sipped her coffee, grateful beyond words for the bitter brew. "Weiss is okay, I guess. She's got some burns, not too bad, and a little shrapnel and stuff, but she'll be fine, we're just waiting for her to wake up. Ruby, Ruby's worse. Her back's burned pretty bad, she was really close. They were talking about some sort of burn treatment that involves fish skin or something. I couldn't really follow it, they were speaking in High Medical with Summer, that's Ruby's mom, when I rolled by. Blake, that's Ruby's girlfriend, is battered and shocky but probably going to be alright. Ruby threw herself on top of Blake to shield her, so Blake kinda told the doctors to go fuck themselves and relocated herself to Ruby's room. Says it's the second time Ruby's saved her. I know the story, but, um, later, okay?

"Blake's parents were there too, but her dad threw himself on top of her mom and took the worst of it. Probably more of the fish skin thing for him, I guess. They seem to really like the fish skin thing, so I guess it works.

"Ilia, uh, that's Amitola from SWAT, she, uh, she's pretty bad. She was pretty much point-blank. All the doctors will say is that they're doing everything they can and 'the next twenty-four hours will be critical', which is probably their way of saying that if she lives that long, they'll give her fifty-fifty odds." With that, Yang looked around the lounge, at the faux leather couches, the faux wood paneling, the art prints on the walls, anywhere but at Goodwitch. "And that, that's all I've got. Oh, yeah, my prosthetic got trashed in the blast. Weiss will probably be pissed when she wakes up, it was high-end and kinda expensive, but we had it insured. That's really all I've got," she finished, collapsing in her chair. There, she'd looked after everyone as best she could until someone else had shown up to take charge and given her report. Could she find a quiet corner and pass out now? "How bad is it?"

"Bad." Goodwitch's face was grim. "It was a crowded city street, on a Friday evening. The last count I got of the wounded was almost a hundred, and they were still finding people. Twenty confirmed dead. Thankfully the autocab was only a two-seater, which limited the size of the explosion, although they seem to have compensated by packing the vehicle with shrapnel. The press is, of course, going insane and expecting the case to be solved already, even if it's only been three hours."

"Yeah." Yang cleared her throat, her voice suddenly heavy with fatigue. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Provide as many details as you can when we ask for them. Other than that, get some rest and wait for your wife to wake up. Sleep, if you can. You are not working this case," Goodwitch said flatly.

"But-"

"One. You are currently suspended, even if it is a formality. Two, you're a victim in the explosion, so you're too close to it. Not to mention your wife, your sister, her girlfriend and her family. Too. Close. And three, I'm fairly certain that a high-end prosthetic takes some time to replace, which means four, you're on medical leave until further notice."

"But-"

Goodwitch sighed and laid a hand on Yang's knee. "Go rest, Agent Xiao Long. We're on the case, and despite what you think, the VBI can manage without you for a few hours, and your family needs you. We have the watch."

* * *

Ruby moaned. Fuck, she hurt. Then she realized that might be a good thing. "Not dead," she croaked, or at least tried to. Working up some spit in her mouth, she tried again. "Not dead." Okay better. She still sounded like a zombie, but at least it was words, kinda sorta.

"No, my little gem, you're not dead." She could hear someone moving and she pried her eyes open, then drove them shut again as the light stabbed into her eyes. "Too bright," she croaked. Better again.

This time when Ruby cracked her eyes open, she could see her mother squatting down at the edge of her vision. That was when she realized she was face-down her held in place by some sort of rig. And she couldn't really feel her back, which was probably a good thing. "How bad?" Ruby asked, wiggling fingers and toes experimentally. Okay, those seemed to work, and she was getting better at the talking thing. And hey, coherent thought was a thing too.

"Your back is badly burned, but the doctors sound very optimistic. Um, they shaved most of your head."

"Blake?" Argh, talking fail there.

"Better off than you. As soon as she was awake, she marched, um staggered is more like it, in here and refused to be separated from you. Right now she's passed out on a bed she bullied the nurses into dragging in here." Summer gave Ruby a wink. "I think she's a keeper."

"Yup." Gods she was tired. "Hey, mom? If, if I'm not awake when she wakes up, can you tell Blake I love her? And, and I tried to stay awake to tell her myself, but I'm really tired." Hell, that much talking had been exhausting, and Ruby could feel her eyelids drooping.

"Sleep, then." Herr mother reached up a hand to touch Ruby's face. "I'll make sure she's here when you wake up again."


	6. The Space Between

Shuffle. _Thump_.

Shuffle. _Thump_.

Shuffle. _Thump_.

Ruby's teeth were clenched as she made her way down the hallway on her walker. After a week lying in bed (the first half of which she spent face-down) she was glad to be up and moving around. Ruby was no stranger to pain, but physical inactivity had always driven her bonkers. She stopped for a moment, leaning on the walker as she caught her breath, then headed on. Okay, maybe this hadn't been such a great idea, but she'd promised Yang.

Familiar laughter from one of the rooms caught her attention, and she peeked into a room. Sitting in the morning sunlight were Blake and Ilia. They were both laughing, Ilia's arms waving around excitedly as she told a story. "-and then the guy says, 'It's okay guys, the bananas are ripe'!"

Blake laughed again, then reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. Wait, why was Blake doing the hair-ear thing? Blake only did that when she was being flirty. Or nervous, but it looked like she was having too much fun to be nervous. Ilia looked up from Blake and saw Ruby standing in the doorway. "Oh, hey, Rubes, they let you out of bed, huh? Me, I'm still stuck here."

"Yeah, well, at least you're sunny-side up today. Last I heard, you were still face-down." Ruby's memory found context for what she'd overheard. "Wait, are you telling Blake the story about the truckload of bananas? The one you SWAT goobers were convinced was full of narcotics?" Ruby shuffled over to the chair Blake was sitting in. "Mind if I steal the chair? Still not up to full strength yet."

"Oh, you've heard this one?" Blake asked as she stood up, turning the chair to make it easier for Ruby to sit down. "And when did they let you up? The doctor didn't say anything about that yesterday."

"Heard it? I was there." Ruby sat down in the chair with a grateful groan. 'Sore' did not begin to cover how she still felt. "It was when I decided to try out for SWAT. I qualified for sniper pretty quick, so I was sitting on a roof watching through a scope when everything went down. Best seat in the house. I just about died laughing when they opened the back of the truck and it was full of bananas."

Ilia scowled. "Hey, you didn't have to inventory those bananas, just to make sure there wasn't anything hidden in the shipment. I couldn't even look at one for a week after that. And I really, really like bananas."

"I can testify to that. Our whole freshman year and she had the same thing for breakfast every morning. Toast with jelly, a banana, and black coffee." Blake shook her head. "Drove me bonkers."

"Freshman year? Oh, so you know each other from college then." Ruby started to lean back in the chair, then thought better of it. Her back was still covered in bandages, and it probably wasn't a great idea to put too much pressure on it.

Blake nodded. "Yeah, we were roommates. I was dropping by for a visit and spotted Ilia. I thought I recognized her that night, but I wasn't sure and we were running late. And you," she poked Ruby in the shoulder, eliciting a yelp of pain, "didn't answer my question. What. Are. You. Doing. Out. Of. Bed? I thought you were still confined to bed, just like Ilia."

Before Ruby could answer, a voice came from the door. "She is, although if she managed to make it this far, we might allow her some mobility. Or consider full restraints, we could go either way." Doctor Tukson gave Ruby an amused smile. "Out for a morning stroll?"

Ruby cringed under Blake's glare. "I got a little stir-crazy, okay? And I wasn't going to leave the hospital or anything, promise. I just thought I'd check on Weiss, is all. Yang's busy getting her new arm sorted out this morning, and I know she feels guilty about spending time away from Weiss right now. So, I, um, thought I'd wander over and check on Weiss. It was in a good cause," she finished weakly, Blake's glare holding steady.

"Ah, you know Weiss then. Well, tell you what," Tukson chuckled, "Blake, why don't you go find a wheelchair for Ruby while the nurse and I change Ilia's bandages? Then you can push Ruby over to look in on Weiss while I look in on a few other patients. After that, it'll be Ruby's turn for a bandage change."

"I don't suppose you'll let her escape," Blake said with a sigh. Mindful of Ruby's healing burns, she squeezed Ruby's shoulder gently, barely enough pressure for Ruby to feel it. "Stay put, okay?" And with that, Blake was gone.

"There goes a goddess on earth. And a hell of a lot better than that jackass boyfriend she had in college could ever deserve," Ilia said quietly.

"You mean Adam, right?" Ruby asked. "Blake doesn't talk about him." Much to Ruby's regret. She knew Adam was a painful subject for Blake, but she just wanted to _understand_ , dammit!

"I'm not surprised." Ilia started to shake her head, only to have the nurse grab her head and hold it firmly in place. "At first, things weren't too bad between them. Romantic dinners, flowers a couple of times a week, you get the idea. Eventually, he started stalking her. If she stopped to talk to a classmate, he'd want to know what they talked about. When Blake took too long to get from one class to another, he'd come find her and demand to know where she'd been. All to make sure she was safe, of course. And forget being alone with someone to work on a project-!" Ilia let out a heavy sigh, squeezing her eyes shut to keep from crying at the remembered frustration. "It's my fault she ended up in the hospital. I kept telling her to stop putting up with it, break up with him, and then one day she listened. Adam launched into one of his tirades in the middle of the quad, and Blake, she, she finally told him to go to hell, that she never wanted to see him again. He tried to grab her arm, told her it wasn't over, that they were destined to be together. Blake slapped him and stormed off, or at least started to. She didn't get three steps before he was on her."

Ruby just kept quiet, let Ilia talk. Ilia almost sounded like she was confessing her sins, seeking absolution. Then Ilia took a deep breath. "Adam attacked Blake like a man possessed, shaking off every attempt to get him off her. I tried helping, but I don't know how many people it took to take him down in the end." The tears started to fall now. "I stayed with her, on the ride to the hospital. She was such a mess… But it looks like she's doing a lot better now."

"Yeah, she is." Ruby grinned. Before she could say anything else, Ilia opened her eyes, smiling at Ruby. "Maybe now I've got a chance with her," Ilia said with a wink.

Shit. "Uh, Ilia, I don't know how to tell you this, but-"

"She's seeing somebody, isn't she?" Ilia winced, whether from what the doctor and nurse were doing to her or what Ruby'd said, Ruby wasn't sure. "Story of my life. Wrong girl at the wrong time. Well, whoever she's seeing, I hope he knows how lucky he is."

"No, I'm the lucky one." Blake stopped behind Ruby, gently resting her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "We didn't get this far when we were catching up, but a year ago, Adam got out of prison. The first thing he did was come after me. Ruby was out for a morning jog and stepped in. That's how we met," Blake finished, smiling down at Ruby.

Ilia's mouth gaped wide open. "Oh," was all she said before she shook her head and forced a smile on her face. "Wow, the universe has a sense of humor, doesn't it? You know what, you're both lucky. Take good care of each other."

As she pushed Ruby down the hallway toward Weiss' room, Blake stopped and knelt down in front of Ruby. "I'm sorry, Ruby."

"What, you're sorry for running into an old friend and her thinking you're gorgeous and wonderful?" Ruby reached out and ran a hand down Blake's cheek. "Hate to tell you this, but you _are_ wonderful and gorgeous. And I'm not just saying that because I'm in love with you."

"No, that's not it." Blake grimaced. "I was on my way to see you, and I spotted Ilia sitting up, decided to stop and say hi. It, it wasn't long before I realized she was flirting with me, and I, um, I was trying to figure out a way to tell her I was with someone but..."

"You didn't get that far before I showed up."

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Hey." Ruby gave her girlfriend one of her trademark lopsided goofy grins. "Nothing to be sorry for. Now if she'd asked you out, and you'd said yes, _then_ you would have something to be sorry for. I, uh," Ruby licked her lips, suddenly nervous, "I'm open-minded, but, um, rules, boundaries, those are things, yeah?"

"R-right." Blake stood, running her suddenly sweat-slick palms down her slacks. "Let's, um, let's go check on Weiss."

Ruby suppressed a shiver as they came up to the door to Weiss' room. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. Every time she asked Yang how Weiss was doing, Yang didn't answer, just looked away. Squaring her shoulders, Ruby gripped the wheels of her chair and pushed forward hard, taking the burden of pushing her away from Blake, just for a moment. This was Ruby's duty, and she would not flinch from it or let another take it in her place.

Inside she found… not what she expected. Weiss just looked like she was asleep, enjoying a lazy day in the early morning sun. Well, other than all the tube and gadgets she was hooked up to, but Ruby figured that was part of not waking up for a week. Yang had said Weiss had full brain activity and everything, she just wasn't waking up and the doctors didn't know why. When Ruby had asked if Weiss was in a coma, Yang had said, "They haven't called it that yet," and looked like she was trying not to cry.

Afraid to make any noise, Ruby rolled up to Weiss's bed and took the white-haired woman's hand. "Hey, Weiss, it's me, Ruby," she said softly. "Yang's off doing something about her arm, the prosthetic one, the insurance company's being jerks about paying for it so she's off screaming at them this morning." She gulped before continuing, searching for what to say. "So, so I thought I'd come see you, check on you, since she wasn't here. I, um, I stole a walker to get here before I ran into Blake and Ilia, you don't really know Ilia but she's the one we had on the sidewalk. She, she's doing much better today, her burns were really bad because she was really close, worse than mine, but she's right-side-up today, which is good. Blake's fine, Blake's dad is fine, he just got flash burns. Her mom's fine too, she was just a little banged around from being tossed on the ground and Ghira jumping on top of her. I, um, I don't know what else to say. Please wake up, Weiss. We've only known each other for a few days, but you're family, and I don't have a lot of that to spare. Just please wake up. Please," Ruby finished, letting go of Weiss' hand and reaching up to brush a stray hair out of Weiss' face.

Weiss flinched away from the contact, making Ruby gasp. "She-she moved! Weiss moved!" Ruby said to Blake.

"That happens sometimes when someone's in a coma, Ruby," Blake said, her feline ears flattening down on her head.

"Hush, her lips are moving, she might be trying to talk," Ruby said, leaning forward to hear what Weiss was saying even as she reached for the call button.

Weiss _was_ saying something, just barely at the edge of hearing. "'Hate that,' that's what I think she's saying, maybe, it's really muffled. So you don't like your face being touched, Weiss? Fine." And with that, Ruby reached up and poked her sister-in-law in the forehead.

The reaction was immediate. Weiss' left arm twitched, making Ruby grin as she remembered that Weiss was left-handed like she was. "I got a response out of her," Ruby said excitedly to the purple-haired nurse that came in. "Watch." Another forehead poke produced another twitch.

"Could be just reflex, but let's see. Hey, Weiss, are you in there? It's Nurse Lisa again. Your friend Ruby here thinks you're starting to wake up, so do you think you can show me some movement. Like, move your right hand for me." Lisa waited for a moment, then sighed. "Sorry, looks like a false alarm. We'll probably see a lot of those before she comes around."

"She's left-handed," Ruby offered up helpfully.

"Well, we'll try for a left-hand twitch, then. Okay, Weiss, Ruby says you're left-handed, and your dominant hand tends to be more responsive, so let's try for a left-hand twitch. Just a little one, it doesn't have to be much, just a little something to let us know you're in there, and fighting to get out." Again, Lisa waited, but as she was turning to face Ruby with a professionally hopeful smile fixed on her face, Weiss' left hand twitched. Ruby just clasped her hands over her mouth in disbelief as Lisa checked the monitors, then leaned over Weiss, a more genuine smile spreading across her face. "Okay, one more time, Weiss. Do it for me one more time. I know you've got a wife waiting for you, it'd be wonderful to let her know you're responding to us, wouldn't it?" Again, Weiss' hand twitched, and Ruby pumped her fist in triumph. Weiss was waking up finally, if only a little.

Lisa grinned openly at Ruby. "Okay, I'm calling the doctor, can I ask you to wait outside? We're going to need room, and, um," she glanced down at the wheelchair Ruby was sitting in.

"The wheelchair takes up a lot of room, and while I'm paramedic certified, this is way beyond me," Ruby said, wheeling the chair around. "Already getting out from underfoot, see?"

Out in the hallway, Ruby and Blake watched as three doctors headed into Weiss' room, not running but more of a jog or fast walk. "Well, she responded, that's something," Blake said, reaching down to ruffle Ruby's eternally messy hair.

"Cut that out. Oh, I should call Yang. Dammit, I left my phone in my room. Hey, there's not a lot of pockets in a hospital gown, you know," Ruby said at a stern look from Blake.

Said stern look lasted all of a second before Blake laughed and fished her own phone out of her pocket. "How about I call Yang?"

Ruby nodded, but before she could answer, angry voices around the corner drew her attention. Out of habit, she rolled her wheelchair in the direction of the arguing.

"I don't care what your orders are or who gave them to you, my daughter is lying in there in a come and I have a right to see her! Now get out of my way!" A familiar-looking man with white hair and a mustache was shouting at a security guard and trying to push past, but the security guard wasn't having any of it.

"Mister Schnee, my orders say you don't get anywhere near your daughter or told anything about her condition without her wife's permission." The orange-haired woman leaned forward, a hint of manic glee in her eyes. "So back up a little, and I'll see about calling your daughter-in-law, okay?"

Ruby suppressed a giggle as she rolled up behind the guard. "Hi, Mister Schnee, we've met but you probably don't remember me. I'm Ruby, Yang's sister."

Jacques scoffed. "Please don't lie to me, young woman. Yang's an only child, thankfully."

"We only found out we're related a few days ago. I'd get our dad in here to tell you, but something tells me you wouldn't listen then, either." Ruby shifted in her seat, moving her hands from the wheels to the armrests. "Listen, I just came from Weiss' room, and it's kinda busy in there right now, but in a good way, trust me. And she doesn't like you much anyway. So here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna have a seat, in that chair right there. And you're gonna stay there till Yang gets here. Otherwise, you're going to become intimately acquainted with the services of Vale General."

"And how would that be, young lady?" Jacques asked, his voice incredulous.

"Wow, I would have thought that part was pretty obvious. I'm going to beat you with my wheelchair," Ruby said, her face the perfect picture of innocence.

"You can't threaten me-!"

"Now I know you really don't know who I am. Because anybody can tell you I don't make threats, I make promises. Now sit. Before I decide you're worth the trouble anyway." Ruby snapped her fingers and pointed at the chair, her voice low and commanding.

Surprisingly, Jacques sat in the chair. "So, how did you and Yang find out you were related? I'm curious."

Ruby snorted. "You mean you're fishing for information, looking for an angle you can use to turn it to your advantage. I've met men like you before, Mister Schnee, and you don't impress or intimidate me."

It wasn't long before Yang stormed out of the elevator. "Goddamn insurance weenies. And what's he doing here?"

Now Ruby giggled. "Sitting and being a good boy before I beat the living hell out of him with my wheelchair. Blake told you what's up?"

"Yeah, Weiss responded a little. I'm gonna go check in on Weiss, you sit on him. I'll get back to you, Jacqueass, though I'd rather toss you out the window." And then Yang was gone, leaving Ruby and Jacques alone again.

"Did she just call me-" he started.

"Yup. With good reason, too, from what I hear."

"I have done nothing but-"

"Break up their first wedding, try to break up the second—Yang said the baby was a nice touch the second time—repeatedly try to ruin your daughter's business, did I miss anything? Oh, and file legal motions to keep them from adopting." Ruby crossed her arms to glare at Jacques. "Think they've got a reason not to like you now? I mean, I grew up without a dad but I'm thinking that might be better than one that's been trying to sabotage me my whole life. Just saying."

They waited in silence for almost half an hour before Blake came around the corner. "She's groggy but conscious. Ruby, you get to come in first. He gets to wait."

Weiss' hand flopped toward Ruby as she pulled up to Weiss' bed. "Ruby," she rasped, her eyes heavy with sleep.

"I'm here, Weiss," Ruby said, reaching out and taking her hand.

"Did you… really... threaten… beat… father… wheelchair?"

"Yeah, I did. Sorry."

"No sorry. Good. Asshole," Weiss finished, making Ruby smile. Yang had said that Weiss hated swearing so it was kinda funny hearing her cuss.

"Res-res-res-tau-rant?"

"Pretty good shape, given, you know. Landscaping's trashed, front door and the entryway are wrecked. But the main dining room's in pretty good shape. Couple of months, we'll be back up and running." Yang reached out and took her wife's other hand. "Good to have you back, snowflake."

A gentle cough drew everyone's attention. "If your insurance proves difficult, I will gladly cover the cost of repairs." Jacques Schnee stood in the doorway, looking at his daughter. "For what it's worth… it's good to see you awake, Weiss."

The white-haired woman's brow furrowed. "Leave," she hissed, the effort seeming to exhaust her.

Jacques just nodded. "Since my presence seems to agitate you, I will remove myself. Miss Xiao Long, I will leave you to oversee her recovery." He pulled out a business card, tossing it onto an unoccupied visitor's chair. "Please keep me up to date about her recovery, or contact me if there's anything I can do to help." He turned to go, then added one more thing before leaving. "Of my children, I find myself proudest of you, Weiss."

* * *

"Hey, I heard you were awake," Taiyang said as he wandered into Weiss' room, Summer right behind him "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Weiss answered with a smile.

"Can't see why, you've been sleeping for a week. And hey, I hear you escaped your room just in time to wake her up. Why do I get get the feeling you were the kid that knew the ER nurses by name?" Tai said, punching Ruby in the shoulder playfully.

"Because she did. Never stopped moving, always into some trouble or another," Summer responded with a laugh as she stopped by Weiss' bed. "You know, Ruby still holds the record for the youngest person to zipline across the Vale gorge? Nine years old and managed to set everything up without me knowing, First I heard of it was the police department calling and asking me if I knew where my daughter was."

"Mooom," Ruby muttered as she rubbed her shoulder. Dammit, that _hurt._

"Now, Ruby, your father made a suggestion this morning, and I think it's worth considering." Summer gave Ruby a wide smile, one Ruby recognized as her this-is-for-your-own-good-so-just-go-along smile. "Even after they let you out of here, it's going to be a while before you're fully recovered. And Blake's got a business to run So…"

"So what do you say you stay with me while you heal up?" Tai was grinning. "It'll give us a chance to spend some time together, get to know each other. There's a guest room with a bathroom right across the hall, my wonderful cooking, and a dog who's just going to love meeting you."

"Zwei… best dog," Weiss put in weakly.

"And, uh, Blake's welcome to stay the night too, if she wants," Tai added, embarrassed.

Ruby glanced at Blake, who gave a small nod. "Okay. Dad."


End file.
